


Stormborn

by Gallus



Series: Here There Be Dragons [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 11:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19766974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallus/pseuds/Gallus
Summary: Luffy builds his hoard(OrI Feel Like The Shorter Length Of This Fic Is In Line With Luffy's Overall Vocabulary)





	Stormborn

**Author's Note:**

> you might want to read Marked before you read this one

Luffy wants. For as long as he can remember there's been what feels like a hole inside him. Later, when he's older and seen more of the world, he'll learn that it's a common trait among people like him, that it's just a manifestation of the need to hoard. But for now he's six, and wants with more force than his little body can hold.

-

Contrary to popular belief Luffy does know how to swim, he's not stupid. It's just that when people swim they swim the wrong way. There's always lots of splash-splashing and up-and-downing, but Luffy know that's not how it goes. Swimming is supposed to have lots of swish-swishing and side-to-siding, like a fish, or a snake. In fact, it’s seeing a snake swim across the surface of a pond that leads Luffy to this epiphany. The animal had been so graceful, had moved so effortlessly.

The problem is that Luffy can’t get his body to move the right way to swim, it won’t go swish-swish or side-to-side in the right way no matter how much he tries.

After he eats that devil fruit he can kinda get himself to move the right way, but by that point swimming’s out of the question.

-

Luffy’s seven when Gramps takes him away to live with bandits. At first it sucks. The bandits are stinky, and they want him to do chores. It’s basically the worst thing to ever happen to him.

But there’s also Ace! Ace is only a little older than Luffy, and he’s super cool, and he’s like Luffy! Luffy’s never met anyone that’s like him. Well, never met anyone like him besides Gramps, but that doesn’t count ‘cus they’re related.

At first Ace wants nothing to do with him, but that’ll change soon. Luffy knows he’ll wear Ace down. He’s good at wearing people down, Makino said so.

-

Sabo says he thought him and Ace won’t like him if they knew he was the son of a noble, but that’s not true! Ace and Sabo have been friends for ages, Ace wouldn’t hate Sabo for something stupid like that. And Sabo and Ace are Luffy’s, their his.. Well, they’re Luffy’s friends, but they’re not really Luffy’s anything besides that.

He’s not sure why that makes him feel all itchy inside.

But Ace is saying that the three of them can become brothers! Luffy’s never had a brother before, and now he’s getting to have two of them!

Luffy feels the itchy feeling turn to sparkes. He’s going to have brothers. He’s going to have Ace and Sabo. There aren’t any sparks that he can see, but Luffy can feel the sparks dance out of him. They try to go to Ace, but get burned away by Ace’s fire. They make it to Sabo though, and Luffy feels them sink in like little hocks. That means Sabo is his brother now, that mean Sabo is _His._

Luffy feels the want in him pull back just a bit.

But before Luffy can really think about what that means it’s time to celebrate! And after they’re done celebrating Luffy’s too tired to think about what those feelings meant. The next day Luffy remembers how Gramps is always saying feelings are stupid, so it can’t be all that important.

-

About two, maybe three, weeks later Luffy remembers. He’s staring at Sabo’s vacant face, listening to Sabo’s toneless voice, when he remembers wanting to make Sabo and Ace _His._ How the sparks only touch Sabo.

He rushes forward, and wraps his arms around Sabo’s waist, and yells, “Sabo, stop it! Stop acting weird! Stop it!”

And, Luffy still doesn’t know quite what he did. he was thinking that Sabo was _His,_ and then he was thinking that he didn’t want Sabo to be _His_ if it meant that Sabo could only be a Thing, and.

He feels the sparks shift outwards, and the want push back to it’s spot, and.

And Sabo’s fine.

-

It takes a few days for things to go back to normal, but as soon as they do Luffy’s pestering Sabo to do the sparky thing whenever he can.

Sabo sighs, scrunches up his face, and then little sparks of electricity jump out of his fingers.

Luffy woops in delight.

He tries to do it himself, but the sparks won’t show.

Luffy groans in frustration. “Why won’t it work?” he says to no one in particular. 

“It’s probably got something to do with how rubber is non-conductive.” Sabo says as he stretches his back.

Luffy squints at him, “Your face is non-productive.”

Ace snorts from his perch up on the tree, “He said non-conducted, idiot.”

“Ace,” Sabo sighs, “you’re like, ten. Shouldn’t you be at least a little bit smarter than him?”

Normally Luffy be cheering from the sidelines of the ensuing brawl, but today he turned his attention back to his hands. He can feel the sparks inside himself . They always feel like they’re pushing at the seams, like if Luffy doesn’t do something to let them out than one day they’ll just let themselves out.

And it’s not fair! It’s not like Ace is any good with his fire, but at least he can still shift. Sure he can’t do it for very long, and he doesn’t like doing it, but still.

Gramps once said that it’s a good thing that Luffy can’t shift. ‘One less thing you have in common with your fool father.’ he’d grumbled. Ace also said it was a good thing, he’d said shifting always made him feel like a monster.

But Luffy doesn't care about any of that! How can flying make anyone feel like a monster? And besides, Ace always gets bigger. Maybe if Luffy could be bigger his body would have room for all of the want inside it, and he wouldn’t feel so empty.

Ace clapped a hand on Luffy’s shoulder. “Hey!” he said, “Didn’t you hear me? It’s time to eat.”

Luffy jumped up, “Food?!” and scurred in the direction of the charred meat smell.

“I wonder what he was thinking about that had him so distracted?” asked Sabo.

“Who knows.” shrugged Ace, “He was probably too busy thinking about dinner actually to notice it.”

-

Gramps says hoarding is bad. “It leads to thievery! Very un-Marine like behavior!”

Ace says having a hoard makes him feel better. “It’s just kinda comforting, y'know?”

Luffy tries hoarding all sorts of things. Shiny things, pointy things, dull things, even book things once! But none of it works. None of it gives him the same feeling he felt on that day with Ace and Sabo, the day they became brothers.

-

Luffy is seventeen when he finally finds the first thing for his hoard. He’s staring at a man tied to a post in the yard of a Marine base. The man hasn’t had anything to eat or drink in nine days, and he says he’s going to last for thirty. There’s a fierce determination in the man's eyes like Luffy’s never seen before, but also a kindness that he reluctantly shows to that little girl.

Luffy _wants._

So he gets.

During the celebratory aftermath Luffy can feel the sparks inside him pushing. They want out. They want to claim this new thing. Luffy remembers when he almost made Sabo one of his things, and pushes the feeling down.

But the want keeps building, and building, and building until he can’t take it anymore.

So that night in their little dinghy Luffy crawls over to Zoro, and sits on him, and

It’s not quite right. It’s not a claiming, but Luffy doesn’t want people that are just things, he wants people that are free.

Zoro tries to shove him off, but Luffy holds fast, and sprawled across the first of his new hoard he sleeps peacefully.

-

At first it’s all in the eyes. Determined eyes, and sneaky eyes, and clever eyes, and kind eyes.  
But soon Luffy’s finding it in all sorts of places. Like in gentle hands, and sad voices, and smart hands, and pleasant songs, and unwavering belief.

The want never really goes away, but on the high seas Luffy finds himself the freest hoard in the world.

It’s only fitting for the future pirate king.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm never writing Luffy PoV again I say as I outline a fic that's looking like it'll have a whole Luffy chapter
> 
> Next one is gonna be awhile as I reread/watch the entirety of Dressrosa


End file.
